Entourage’s new features may not be enough to persuade you to dump iCal, Mail, and Address Book.

 

For all your email, contact management, and calendar tasks, there’s Entourage. Unlike the rest of Office 2008’s apps, Entourage got a minimal makeover for this new version. Whereas the other programs got spiffy new interfaces, most of Entourage’s new features are tucked behind the scenes.

 

Junk Filter

Entourage does a better job of screening out spam.

 

In the last few years, email spam has gone from being a nuisance to a real security threat, thanks to phishing messages that try to
get you to give up your personal account information. Entourage 2008 now includes improved junk mail protection that warns you when it detects a phishing message that links to a potentially dangerous website.

 

Exchange Support

Entourage has always supported Microsoft Exchange email servers, but the new 2008 edition takes Exchange to the next level. Users on an Exchange server (which would be almost exclusively business users in a large IT environment) can now view each other’s schedules to set up meetings. It also lets you take advantage of Exchange’s mail account management features, so you can quickly set up an out-of-office message that will automatically start on the day you leave town and stop on the day you return.


Cooler Calendar

Entourage’s colorful new calendar feature adds functionality that iCal already has.

 

Subtle tweaks in Entourage’s calendar make it easier to enter new events and keep track of all the different roles you play in life. A long overdue color-coding feature lets you give each category its own color—just as you’ve been able to do in iCal for years. You can also now create and modify events just by dragging and dropping them
into your calendar.